262 



MEMOIRS OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN '[Vol. 9, No. 3 



Perennial; culms erect, about 60 cm high; lower sheaths crowded, densely 

 villous toward the base, becoming loose and flat; ligule 0. 2-0.4 mm long, usually 

 densely ciliate; blades linear, elongate, with a firm sharp tip, inrolled or flat, as 

 much as 4 mm wide, attenuate toward the base, pilose with long hairs near the 

 base, otherwise glabrous, even on the margins; panicle long-exserted, pyramidal, 

 12 cm long, about 14 cm wide, the branches and branchlets spreading; spikelets 

 2.7-2.8 mm long, glabrous; first glume broad, subobtuse, a little less to a little 

 more than half the length of the spikelet; second glume and sterile lemma sub- 

 obtuse, equalling the fruit, the lemma with a well developed palea, this ciliate on 

 the keels; fruit 2.2-2.4 mm long, smooth, straw-colored. 



TYPE: infrequent, rocks. Cano Profundo, Cerro Sipapo. Amazonas, Vene- 

 zuela, January 14, 1949 9 Bassett Maguire & Louis Politi 28364; U. S. National 

 Herbarium No. 2,040,188. Also referable to this species is Bassett Maguire & 

 Louis Politi 27919, collected on banks,, lower Cano Negro. 1400 m s Cerro Sipapo. 

 The latter specimen is smaller, 40 cm high, with a smaller, scarcely exserted 

 panicle, and the uppermost sheath is elongate with a very much reduced blade. 

 Panicum cowani Swallen, sp. nov. 



Perenne; culmi erecti, robusti, 1.4 m alti, basi adscendentes vel decumbentes; 

 foliae basi confertae, erectae vel curvatae, laminis 50 cm longis, usque ad 13 mm 

 latis, subtus et supra dense pilosae; culmorum foliae 2 vel 3, vaginis elongatis 

 internodiis multo brevioribus, subglabrae, laminis multo reductis; panicula 14 cm 

 longa ramis adscendentibus vel patentibus ramulis divergentibus implicatis; 

 spiculae 2.6-2.8 mm longae, glabrae; gluma prima acuta spicula ca. 1/2 brevior; 

 gluma secunda et lemma sterile acuta, subaequalia; fructus adustus, acutus, 

 2.2 mm longus. 



Perennial; culms rather coarse, erect, 1.4 m high, apparently from an ascend- 

 ing or decumbent base, the upper part of the culm rather soft and spongy; leaves 

 mostly crowded on the lower part of the culm, erect or becoming loose and curled, 

 the blades about 50 cm long, as much as 13 mm wide, densely and rather softly 

 hairy on both surfaces; upper culm leaves two or three, the sheaths elongate but 

 much shorter than the internodes, glabrous or nearly so except near the base, the 

 blades greatly reduced; panicle 14 cm long, nearly as wide, the branches ascend- 

 ing to spreading, the branchlets spreading, implicate; spikelets (old) 2.6-2.8 mm 

 long, glabrous; first glume acute, about half as long as the spikelet; second glume 

 and sterile lemma equal or nearly so, acutish; fruit brownish, acute, 2.2 mm long. 



TYPE: frequent, cumbre just south of valley head of Camp Cano, sabanita 

 and^crub forest, alt. 2000 m, Serrania Paru, Rio Paru, Cano Asisa, Rio Ventuari, 

 Amazonas, Venezuela, February 2, 1951, Ro 5= Cowan & John J. Wurdack 31151; 

 U. S. National Herbarium No. 2,040,250. Since the spikelets are old, they may 

 have been somewhat larger than indicated in the description. 



Two other specimens, without spikelets, are tentatively referred to this 

 species: Bassett Maguire & Louis Politi 27681 from Lower Camp Savanna, Cerro 

 Sipapo, Amazonas, Venezuela; and Julian A. Steyermark 75777 from rocky plateau 

 below summit of Apacara-tepui, Chimanta Massif, Bolivar, Venezuela. Additional 

 material may prove that these are distinct species. 

 Panicum inversum Swallen, sp. nov. 



Perenne; culmi erecti, 1 m alti: vaginae in parte culmorum inferiore internodiis 

 multo longiores, vix confertae, dense villosae, infimae glabrae laminis reductis; 

 laminae 25-35 cm longae, 9-11 mm latae, subtus et supra dense pilosae; culmorum 

 foliae 2, vagina suprema elongata basin paniculae attingens, glabra, transverse 



